Well, considering what went on below my comment, I want to make clear I wasn't intending to insult Magnus with my comment. It was just a play on the juxtaposition between "hitting the F5 button" in Glove's comment and Magnus's comment on keeping his finger on the pulse.

I know once you have to explain a joke it's no longer funny, but I'd rather be unfunny than to be seen as knocking a guy when that wasn't my intention.

I dislike posts asking about recruits statuses as well, but I will give you credit that you had the initiative to seek out the information instead of waiting for it like the rest of us. With all do respect, you are a sarcastic dick though haha

There is a negative to just accepting his opinions as fact and accepting him as some sort of assumed expert on recruiting. I understand what you are saying that these sort of comments make the board less enjoyable, but I think to post under an assumed platform of expertise on a subject is just as bad/wrong.

or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

If you have a problem with an evaluation Magnus writes, then post what yours is, link to another that has a contrary view, or question him on specifics. Saying he's fat or has no life discredits the guy posting it, not the one he's replying to, in addition to making life a little harder on everyone reading it.

We bring you to Michigan to take care of Michigan. Your job is to protect that block M.
-Carol Hutchins

It just seems rather odd to me that if a person got some news on a recruit say... recieveing money and posted it on the board it would be stripped down in an instant in order to be checked for legitimacy and factual evidence, but in the case of this poster it is on the user to research and dis-prove his often surprisingly negative, baseless and clearly amatuerish OPINION. Seems to be - if not hypocritical than at least very disengenuous.

or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

I dislike the idea that he can report his analysis of a recruit which is assumed by the board -or at least not clearly pointed out to be anything but - expert analysis. That is clearly dangerous to the recruits themselves. A lot of people see this board. A lot of people blindly take his amateur opinion as an expert one. It should be clearly pointed out that his opinion is not on par with that of expert analysis.

or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

If you don't think his analysis is up to snuff, then post your opinion on what's wrong with his opinion.

There's really nothing more to say on the subject: you cannot post personal attacks against other users. Whether you agree that should be the rule doesn't matter, it's a board rule and it won't be happening again on the board.

We bring you to Michigan to take care of Michigan. Your job is to protect that block M.
-Carol Hutchins

I have never claimed to be an "expert." If that's an inference people make, then that's on them. I have made it very clear on my blog that I am a high school coach. Clearly, I can't/don't follow kids around the country to the various camps and go watch them play on Friday nights, because I coach on Friday nights.

And while I won't claim to be an expert, I will say that many of the recruiting "analysts" out there don't have much football experience. You may (or may not) assume that everyone who works at Rivals or Scout or wherever has a background in football, but they don't.

I find it hard to believe most high school football recruiting analysts don't have a background in football, but I understand some might not. It's the accountability of being a professional that makes me trust their opinion. If they suck and continually whiff on their analysis of recruits their access and soap box are removed whereas with you the former was never an issue and the latter is what will seemingly never be called into question.

or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

"I find it hard to believe most high school football recruiting analysts don't have a background in football, but I understand some might not."

I'm not sure whose football opinions you trust in regard to recruiting. But you might want to make a mental list and then do a little bit of research. I think you'll be surprised.

Trent Dilfer gets bashed quite a bit for how he ranks recruits (and I don't really pay attention to him, so whatever), but he's one of the most accomplished football guys out there who pays attention. The guy from ESPN (I'm blanking on his name, but he played QB at Georgia Tech) is another one. Meanwhile, there are numerous guys at Rivals and Scout who are simply journalists (for lack of a better term) who are interested in football. I'm not sure how much of a football background TomVH, Ace, and Brian have, although I still like the product they put out there.

Considering that most of Magnus's post on here where he is giving his opinion on something are usually negative themselves. I don't see why he would exspect anything other that what he receivers from Rager.

If you listen to him We have been recruiting talentless hacks and have little to no shot at most of the 5 star guys we offer. I'm just saying, sometimes it's true but, man this is a Michigan fan blog. keep all that negative crap on TTB

" If you listen to him We have been recruiting talentless hacks and have little to no shot at most of the 5 star guys we offer. I'm just saying, sometimes it's true but, man this is a Michigan fan blog."

You're exaggerating about the "talentless hacks" part. I was much less a fan of the guys Rodriguez recruited, and the NFL Draft and Michigan's win totals for most of the recent years suggest that a lot of those guys weren't Michigan-caliber recruits. And we don't have a shot at most 5-stars. I don't really care whether it's a Michigan fan blog - the truth is the truth. I'm not going to say that every kid is a future Hall of Famer and that we're going to get every 5-star. What's the point of discussing anything if that's all anyone says?

Although I agree that Magnus can go overboard sometimes, not everyone wants an optimistic opinion of our recruits I sure don't. I don't need someone to tell me how awesome we'll be because all of our recruits are just the greatest.

The funny thing is that everyone got so upset about Magnus' evaluation of LTT after he committed, but then every camp report after that said close to the same things. And LTT tweeted that he would prove Magnus wrong, which is the right attitude.

Like it or hate it, Magnus points out strengths and weaknesses of our recruits as he sees them, and he watches a lot of high school football. It's not gospel, just another guy's opinion.

Hah. If by "bashed" you mean I commented on things they need to work on, then yeah, I'm guilty. I had the audacity to say that Dawson isn't an elite prospect (in my opinion) and that Logan Tuley-Tillman looked like he never had any quality coaching (which numerous other analysts have more or less echoed in the months since he committed).

I also never claimed that Cox was a gamebreaker. I said he deserved a shot to be the starting RB or at least get more carries. Vincent Smith just finished his career as Michigan's third-string running back after being surpassed by Toussaint and Rawls. Maybe, just maybe, I was onto something back in 2010...

A large number of your comments are taking shots at me, so that seems a bit hypocritical.

As for your first point, no bookmarking is necessary. I simply clicked on Mr. Rager's name and scrolled down a few comments. It's a pretty simple process, maybe even easier than it was for you to respond to my comment.

I have been to his site. I see one or two posts a day and most are relatively short. I have no idea what he does and I really don't care because it isn't worth thinking about. However, you feel the need to tell people what to think and push your opinion on everybody, which I find very annoying and childish. Perhaps you could find something more constructive to do that bitch and complain about an internet poster.

Is that supposed to be about me? If so, I'd like to update you that we're expecting our second accident in a few months.

As for my profession, I was asked specifically in a thread discussing majors (as in what do you do with a sociology degree, which is a good question, btw) and I never said whether or not I was successful. I certainly didn't say it as a way to attack another poster based on his/her job.

"Magnus is just more annoying because he has marginally a tad more knowledge than most of us, but comes off extremely certain and self-assured in his opions on recruits and coaching - which are often just a rewrite of other sites assessments (also made by hacks grasping to their high school football playing days)."

Your opinion is your opinion, but the fact is that I make my own assessments. I get recruiting info (who gets offered, where they're visiting, etc.) from various locations - Twitter, Rivals, 247, MGoBlog, etc. - but I don't need anyone else to make my player evaluations for me.

Some of us do know shit,and we're willing to back it up with our opinions vs. those that get paid for doing same, i.e., Josh Helmoldt from Rivals, whom upon hearing from two former site members that a certain 5 star DT that committed to UM would have to learn the position, instead of just relying on his size and strength, as demonstrated on his highlight tape, became irritated and had this to say:

¨Just because he's not from the w.side of the state, knowing we both were, doesn't mean he's not a legit 5 star.¨Wow, how condescending and just because he's from the e. side, obviously, and doesn't know the difference between ect and etc., and which one is correct, he slides by because he played at the same school I did, only years apart. That school being GVSU, of course. I still think I was much better than he, and I know I learned a hell of a lot more in regard to English Composition than he did, but damn, the man has 45 lbs of fat on me, so I don't really want to piss him off. He is just not that good at rating or writing, two, as we all know of the three Rs.

I'll try my best to explain. When there is news it is reported here, fairly quickly. So the need for a post asking about news is unnecessary seeing that if there was news there would be a post about it. Therefore this post wouldn't be necessary and isn't necessary. Hope that helps. I didn't down vote fwiw and that isn't worth much.

This is true if by "news" you mean a commitment, de-commitment, scheduled visit, etc. If "news" is defined really broadly, like McDowell's visit reaction, that kind of thing often doesn't make it back here. Whether it should is another question, since the pay sites typically work to get that information (and a lot of it is silly anyway), but as a point of fact, a lot of stuff like this doesn't actually show up on MGoBlog.

If McDowell had come out and said that he had a great time and that Michigan was his leader or anything different from what he said "They are near the top like the others" I believe it would be reported. The running back who visited on Saturday said it was "eye opening" and other glowing things and a post was made for it.

In this case, its fine to dislike content and downvote it, but I'll never understand why people feel the need to voice their displeasure with a separate comment. FYI - Its more annoying than the post that you (not you, Don) are complaining about.

I almost completely forgot what the thread was about as well. But anyways, McDowell was actually in a minor car accident, so he was late getting to Ann Arbor. That's why he wasn't in any pictures or mentions really.